De Boer: Ajax's Real Madrid rout 'tops the lot' for club achievements

The club great was proud of his former side following their memorable victory over the Spanish giants in the Champions League last 16

Ajax great Ronald de Boer said Tuesday's 4-1 Champions League humiliation of Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu topped the team's 1995 result in the Spanish capital.

Goals from Hakim Ziyech, David Neres, Dusan Tadic and Lasse Schone saw Ajax rout the three-time defending champions to complete an unforgettable 5-3 aggregate win in the last 16.

Ajax trailed 2-1 after the first leg in Amsterdam but travelled to Madrid and left Spain with a quarter-final berth thanks to an incredible display against Santiago Solari's struggling outfit.

De Boer – who was part of the Ajax side that defeated Madrid 2-0 in their group-stage clash at the Bernabeu in November 1995 as they went on to reach the final – hailed the achievement of Erik ten Hag's men.

"What we did in 1995 [beating Real 2-0 in Madrid] was fantastic, but this tops the lot," the 48-year-old Dutchman told Veronica TV .

Four-time European champions but without a Champions League trophy since 1995, Ajax will feature in the quarters for the first time since 2002-03.

That season, Ajax – led by Ronald Koeman and boasting Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rafael van der Vaart, Jari Litmanen and Wesley Sneijder – were beaten by eventual champions AC Milan in the last eight.

For Madrid, the loss leaves the club out at the last-16 for the first time since 2010 when they fell 2-1 to Lyon while Jose Mourinho was in charge of the Spanish side.

Ajax were also the first non-German side to net four goals in a European match away to Real and just the third team overall to have done so following Schalke in 2015 and Bayern Munich in 2000.

The Dutch side will now have to wait to see who they draw in the quarter-finals, with Tottenham the only other side having booked their place in next round.